CHP Probes If Man Caught Covid For Second Time

The Centre for Health Protection (CHP) said on Monday that they are investigating a case to see if a man has been infected with Covid-19 for a second time, four months after he was cured and discharged from a hospital.

The 33-year-old IT worker was confirmed with the coronavirus in March, and discharged in mid-April after treatment and testing negative for the virus.

He then travelled to Spain via London earlier this month and tested positive for the virus when he came back to Hong Kong on Saturday. He is currently staying at the AsiaWorld Expo community treatment facility.

The centre's Dr Chuang Shuk-kwan said the patient was asymptomatic and they would carry out blood tests and genetic sequencing tests to study if he has been re-infected.

"I think there are two main possibilities; either he's a persistent [carrier] of the virus but he has been tested negative during discharge, and the second possibility is re-infection so I think this needs to be thoroughly studied by experts and with more tests," Chuang said.

This comes as the centre reported 44 new coronavirus cases today, including 13 imported infections. Of the local cases, 11 have no known source, 20 are linked to previous cases.

Two workers at Kwai Tsing Container Terminal – a crane operator and a truck driver – also have come down with the disease, bringing the total number in that cluster to 65.

Chuang said the virus could still spread among workers though a common room where some of the patients shared is no longer in use.

She said that improving or disinfecting the work environment could help, but the most important thing was for people to adjust their behaviour like maintaining social distancing and avoid being in close contact with each other.

The CHP confirmed that there are 20 preliminary positive cases, and this includes another worker at the Kwai Tsing Container Terminal.

Meanwhile a chief manager for the Hospital Authority, Dr La Ka-hin, confirmed that they will temporarily cease using the Lei Yue Mun Holiday Park and Holiday Village as a community isolation facility in order to make some renovations.

These renovations include installing more wi-fi networks, and upgrading the electrical system.

The facility is currently being used to treat recovering Covid-19 patients and those in a stable condition. All patients currently staying at Lei Yue Mun will be transferred to either AsiaWorld Expo, or to second-tier wards at public hospitals.

Lau said 240 patients have been admitted to the facility since it started taking in patients on July 24, of which 230 have recovered and been discharged. He did not say when the renovations would be completed.